Versus 4: Temporal Distortion
--Rain Song--
Bra lay on her bed, staring at the ceiling. She'd been thinking about Goten ever since she told Gohan about the blunder of the century. Well, actually, she thought about Goten all the time, so that was no big surprise. She could go and visit him any time she wanted. So why was she laying here instead of going over to see him? Was it because she'd been the reason he lost his job? Or was it because she knew that Pan would be looking for her when she awoke from Bulma's experiment?
In any case, she wanted to see Goten. The more she thought about him, the more she could understand almost every love around her that had stood the test of time. Her mother and father. Goten's parents. Marron's parents. Pan's mom and dad. They all had different dynamics, but they all had one thing in common. Unconditional love. No matter what happened in their relationships, there was always that one thing that remained. Bra could see that sometimes it was hard. She'd watched her mother and father struggle through their differences time and time again, but there was something that kept them working. And even though her father never said it to her mother, Bra was sure that her mother knew that he loved her. For actions sometimes tended to speak louder than words.
Bra felt like a whole different person these days. Nothing was the same for her anymore. She had her Goten. And Goten had her. It would take all of Hell to keep them apart now.
Her phone rang and she listened to it for a while. The irritating tone sang through the room as she lay on her bed with her eyes closed.
Finally, she had worked her way into making Goten hers. And sure, they would have their problems. Every couple did. But they would always share this unconditional love.
But he was now jobless for it. She couldn't help feeling guilty about that. He'd risked so much just to be with her. Not just his job, but his life. For that, she could never forgive herself. Even if he did.
She listened to her own voice on the answering machine: "This is Bra's line. Leave a message." And there came the beep.
"Oh, hey. I thought you'd be home from school, but I guess you're not. Unless you're training, I mean," Goten's voice echoed.
Bra almost fell off her bed in her attempt to pick up the phone. "Goten." She was happy to hear from him.
"Oh, hi, Bra. What's up?" Goten asked.
"Oh, nothing. I'm really sorry about what happened at school," Bra told him.
Goten's laugh sounded a little different over the phone. "I told you. Don't worry about that."
Bra fell silent for a moment. "I'll try. I won't even talk about that anymore."
"Good," Goten said. His voice was peppy enough. He sounded almost a little too happy. "So, why'd it take you so long to pick up the phone?"
She lay on her back on the bed. "You know, I never answer my phone unless I know who's calling. It's a habit."
"You and your habits," Goten murmured. But it was loud enough for her to hear.
Bra stared and the ceiling and furrowed her brow. "What's that supposed to mean?"
"Well, I can't say it's a habit because I've only heard you do it twice. Well, I FELT you do it twice," Goten said. "It's kinda funny. I've been thinking about it a lot."
What was he babbling about? She shook her head. "You're not making any sense, Goten."
"Remember after you sang that night? When I told you that you purred?" Goten asked.
Bra nodded, but he wouldn't be able to see what she was doing through the phone. "I remember." How could she forget a night like that? She remembered the night, but she didn't remember purring or whatever he was accusing her of.
"Well, you did the same thing yesterday when we were together," Goten told her. "I didn't say anything about it because...well, I didn't want to interrupt...what was going on." He paused.
Bra blushed deeply. She remembered that time too. It was only yesterday, so of course she would remember it. She had even lost her shirt for a short period of time. Before Trunks had shown up, that is. She finally broke the silence by saying, "You left hickeys."
"So did you," Goten laughed.
Bra gasped. Pan had told her that she saw hickeys on Goten's neck, but she hadn't paid much attention. So, it was true.
"Your brother's been teasing me about them since he got off from work," Goten said.
She was a little surprised to hear that her brother had actually gone home from work at a decent time. "My brother's not nearly as bad as my mom's gonna be once she sees mine," Bra almost whined. She giggled a little. But her giggles were cut short. "And if my dad sees them..."
"Don't you worry about your dad," Goten told her. "I think he's coming around on the whole me and you thing. He and I may even get to be friends one day."
"I don't know about that. He's still on bad terms with your dad," Bra sighed.
"Well, I hate to tell him, but we'll all be family once you and I get married. So he'll have...," Goten commented.
Bra lost track of anything else he might have said about that. She was just overwhelmed that he was talking about this marriage thing again. And so openly. Seemingly without a doubt in his mind. She felt a blush rise to her cheeks and her heart began to race.
She imagined their life together. They would raise a wonderful family of mixed Saiyans and they would be strong. They could invite everyone to their home for reunions. And their family and friends would dote on their little ones and tell them about the old days.
And she and Goten would watch their children grow up. They'd have arguments over how to raise Saiyan adolescents and teens. Eventually the kids would decide what they wanted to do with their lives. They would soon leave the nest and she and Goten's life would start anew. After raising strong, intelligent children, they would be able to sit back and relax, knowing that their kids were going the right directions with their lives. Goten and she would grow old together and annoy each other with their quirks from time to time. It would be a fantastic life.
Suddenly Bra had an idea. An idea so wild that she was surprised that she was the one who came up with it. HA! She was the one who came up with it. She'd have to let Pan in on this one. She was pretty impressed with her own--
"Helloooooooooooooo?" Goten sang.
Bra shook herself back into reality. "Huh?"
"You didn't fall asleep on me, did you?" Goten asked with a laugh.
Bra smiled. "No. I was just thinking."
Goten was silent for a moment and she knew what was coming next. "What were you thinking about?"
Yep. She saw that one coming. Classic telephone question in relationships #1. She sighed quietly. "About how much I love you."
What a mushy comment. She never thought she'd be one of the people who would say something like that.
"I love you too," Goten said somewhat quietly.
Suddenly there came a rapping at her chamber door.
Bra rolled her eyes. Interruptions, interruptions. Now who could this be? Was it her mother? Was it Pan?
As she made her way to the door, she continued to talk to Goten. "I was thinking about coming over this afternoon, but my mom's doing this test on Pan and--"
"Oh, the brain wave test? Yeah, your mom called and left a message for me and Trunks. She wants to do ours tomorrow," Goten said. "If you came over here today, you'd get soaked."
Soaked? Bra looked out of her window. It was amazing. She hadn't even noticed that it had started to rain in that short period of time between coming home from school and now. It had been so sunny today. Where had this rain come from?
She opened her door and saw her father standing there. "Oh, hi, Dad," was all she could say to him. She was a little surprised to see him there. He was usually out training, rain or shine. "Um, Goten, I gotta go."
"I heard," Goten told her, referring to her father's arrival. "Okay, I'll talk to you later. Bye."
Bra turned off the phone and moved aside so the Great Vegeta could enter her room.
Vegeta walked past her silently and looked at the multitude of cds and video games on her bookshelves. "What has your mother been up to?"
Why was he asking her this? Why didn't he ask her mother?
"Why do you ask?" Bra questioned. It had been on impulse. She hadn't really thought about who she was talking to until the question was already out.
Vegeta turned to her with an irritated look on his face. "I am the one asking the questions here." He looked at her for a while, and then anger reared its ugly head. "What's on your neck?"
Bra blushed and folded her arms across her chest. He had to know what they were because if he didn't, he probably wouldn't have asked. She was surprised that he was in the mood to even ask all these questions. Something must have been bothering him.
"It's...it's nothing, Papa," Bra answered, keeping her eyes downcast. She hoped that if she called him 'papa', he may take it easy on her.
Vegeta laughed a false laugh. Bra could feel his eyes on her. She could only imagine the look on his face. "Nothing?" He laughed again. "You've got some nerve telling me that, when I can see plain as day what those are."
Then why was he asking her what they were? Bra frowned. She could almost feel anger rising in her, yet she had no reason to be upset. But she remained silent, finally looking up at him.
His expression was serious. "Your mother. What is she trying to do?"
That was amazing. He dropped the subject. Maybe he remembered that she's just as stubborn as he is when she wants to be. She raised her eyebrows. After a moment she sighed. "I'm not sure of what you're asking me."
"What are all those papers she's been carrying around lately?" Vegeta asked.
So, he noticed that. And all this time she thought that he never paid attention to her mother. Actually, her mother probably didn't know that he had been paying attention to her. Now what made him think that she knew? Sure, she knew. But what gave him the idea that she would know? She figured she should give him a straight answer since this seemed to be getting under his skin for some reason.
"Mom has this theory about what I've been going through lately," Bra began.
"Oh, no. You see, this is what happens when you get people who think they know everything involved in something they have no clue about," Vegeta said, rolling his eyes. He folded his arms across his chest. "This is about your fight with that clown's son, isn't it?"
Bra sighed again. "Actually, it's about a little bit more than that, but that is the main issue. I never really told her the details of that incident."
Vegeta gave her a look that told her she should tell him exactly what was going on.
His interest in her relationship with a man he didn't really even like astounded her. Perhaps it was not the relationship that he was so interested in. Perhaps it was the way she was reacting to it.
--End Rain Song--
--Hey. That's it for that chapter. Another long wait. What can I say?
--Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this episode. Thanks for the reviews. And thanks for the patience. I'll see you next time.
